1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a material feed system, and more particularly, it relates to a dual feed system having first and second feed paths and drive mechanisms for feeding two strips of material independently of each other to precise predetermined lengths.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the sewing industry, it is common to use feed mechanisms which continually feed out and cut strips of material to a predetermined length. The strips of material may either be used as they are cut by the feed system or they may be inventoried with similar pieces of material for later use. Such systems have been particularly useful for supplying fastener material such as hook or loop fastener strips prior to being sewn onto an article. For example, life jackets commonly use strips of hook or loop fastener material for permitting the ends of straps to be detachably fastened together for maintaining the life jacket in place on a person's body. During the production of such an article, it has been common to feed strips of a first material, such as the hook strips, for attachment to all points on the article requiring this particular material, and then replace the first material with a second different material, such as the material forming the loop strips, for subsequent operations attaching this material to the article.
The above-described operation has been found to be labor intensive in that the feed system must be alternately loaded with the different types of feed stock for forming the desired strips of material. In addition, if the material is inventoried in order to avoid repetitively changing the feed stock for the feed system, the step of producing the inventory of strips must be performed separately from the operation of attaching the strips to the article such that the strip production operation must be carefully regulated in order to correspond to the anticipated need for use during the attachment operation. This sequence of operations is not conducive to a fully automated system wherein material is fed from a continuous supply and during the same sequence of operations is subsequently attached to an article.
Another problem associated with present feed systems relates to an inability to accurately control the length of strips of material as they are fed toward a cutter. It has been common in prior art systems to use mechanical stops in order to regulate the cut length for strips of material. However, such systems have been subject to producing variations in the length of material produced, and it is desirable to have a system which accurately monitors the length of material as it is fed as well as provides means for changing the predetermined length that the material is fed out prior to actuation of the cutter.